Post by hermes on Mar 2, 2011 13:51:41 GMT -5
HERMES
Name:: Hermes
Nickname:: The Fleet-footed messenger, among others
Age:: ageless, appears in his late thirties
Gender::Male
Species:: Olympian God of commerce, thieves, travelers, sports, athletes, border crossings, etc.
Olympian Parent:: Zeus and Maia
Years at Camp:: N/A
Claimed:: N/A
Celebrity Claim: Ewan McGregor
Looks::
Hermes stands about 5’10” with short sandy hair that tends to be swept back or just left entirely messy. He has an average build, though he can be surprisingly lithe, which helps with more tricky deliveries. His soft blue tend to be quite expressive and deep on those occasions when he’s not trying to hide what he’d thinking or feeling. And, like almost all his children have managed to inherit, he has a naturally mischievous smile, understandable for a god of thieves. And he is never seen without his caduceus, whichever form it may be in at the time, the symbol of his power and also home of his two companion snakes, George and Martha.
Personality::
Hermes really has multiple personalities, depending on what mood one catches him in. There are times, mostly in his efforts to make his work seem less of a pain, that he is fun-loving and quick to make a joke. This is generally more when his mischievous side comes out. He has been known to pull an occasional prank on gods, demigods, and mortals alike, though he tends to favor the gods as targets in these endeavors. He can sometimes come across as childish and carefree, but should the need arise, he can switch to completely serious on a moment’s notice. He does know when joking around is not an option, such as solstice meetings, or on when actually talking to a client.
He can also be very introspective, usually when the topic of his children comes around. He really does care about his children, despite popular belief to the contrary. Thanks to Zeus’ law forbidding contact with mortal offspring, however, he has to be cunning with his visits, and that’s only when time allows. And even when time does allow, he often finds his children have no desire for friendly conversation, which is understandably depressing. And then there’s his temper, which can flare out of control at times and has, on several occasions in his many years, resulted in there being one or more less people on the planet to worry about. This temper is not helped at all by the fact that he utterly loathes his job. When assigned, he wasn’t aware that it would take up all his time and then some, and he often feels overlooked as an actual god rather than just a postal service.
Family::
Zeus -- father
Maia -- mother
Poseidon -- uncle, paternal
Hades -- uncle, paternal
Hestia -- aunt, paternal
Hera -- aunt, paternal
Demeter -- aunt, paternal
Electra -- aunt, maternal
Taygete -- aunt, maternal
Alcyone -- aunt, maternal
Celaeno -- aunt, maternal
Sterope -- aunt, maternal
Merope -- aunt, maternal
Paternal Immortal Half-siblings (include but not limited to):
* Persephone
* Zagreus
* Ersa
* Ares
* Hebe
* Apollo
* Artemis
* Athena
* Dionysus
Pan -- son, by Dryope
Hermaphroditus -- son, by Aphrodite
Tyche -- daughter, by Aphrodite
Demigod Children (include but not limited to):
* Abderus
* Autolycus
* Eumolpus
* Echion
* Evander
* Aethalides
* Cephalus
* Ceryx
* Eudorus
* Daphnis
* Myrtilus
* Tim Berners Lee
* Harry Houdini
* Gus
* Luke Castellan
* Chris Rodriguez
* Connor Stoll
* Travis Stoll
* Cordelia Marshall
* Riley Mitchell
* Sami Mitchell
* Avery Reynolds
History::
Hermes was born to the Pleiade Maia, after a very forced relationship between her and Zeus, on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. After being discovered by the local king, Adacus, Hermes was taken in as a foster son. But he was from day one quite obviously ill-suited for this life. His first stunt, at only one day old, was to steal his half-brother, Apollo’s, sacred cattle, leading them backwards to Greece so their tracks would appear to go the opposite direction. When Apollo accused him of the theft, his mother stood up for him, saying he couldn’t possibly have done it because he’d been with her the whole time. Things turned around when Zeus entered the argument though and backed Apollo. So Hermes pulled another trick: he began to play the lyre, which he had only just invented earlier that day. Apollo was so entranced by the music that he offered to let Hermes keep the cattle he had managed to steal in trade for the lyre.
Much of the rest of his youth passed the same way, pulling tricks here and there and in general causing trouble. When he finally did come age, he was given the role of messenger of the gods due to his speed, and was accepted as one of the Olympians. That was when he was given his caduceus, complete with the two snakes, George and Martha, who would travel with him everywhere. He was told it would be a great job, full of worshippers and cool powers, but instead he came to hate it pretty fast. He was bombarded with messages, and the invention of the phone and the internet - which he claims as his idea to this day - and cell phones only made the load worse over the years.
A particular hard hit came with one of his demigod sons, Luke. When he was still a baby, his mother, May, attempted to take the cursed position - unknown at the time - of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood. The curse resulted in her being permanently insane and prone to sudden bouts of not being all there, her eyes glowing green, and perhaps even seeing her son’s fate to a degree. Though it was understandable, it was not easy for Hermes to hear that his son had run away from home at a young age, even though May seemed oblivious due to her infliction. Hermes was furious with the boy and, when he dared to return with Thalia and Annabeth, he lost his temper. That was the last time he spoke to him.
The next he heard, Luke had left Camp under the influence of the Titan lord Kronos. Though it was against his father’s orders - rules were made to be broken, after all - he helped Percy Jackson with sneaking out of Camp to retrieve the Golden Fleece in the hopes that the son of Poseidon could help Luke more than he ever could. To no avail. Despite the failure, he was among those who voted to keep Percy alive the following winter solstice. He continued to watch over all his children, Luke included, as best he could in the years that led up to the Battle of Manhattan, pained by what he saw, but helpless to do much more than watch and deliver messages as usual. It was on one of these trips that he was sent to deliver a message when no other god could be spared during the battle with Typhon that he finally lost his temper. And, unfortunately, two things that had him mad were combined and present: Annabeth Chase, trusted friend of Luke, had turned him away when he asked for help instead of keeping him from being possessed by Kronos; and she happen to be right there. So he nearly killed her and Percy, who happened to be unlucky enough to be there too, until George and Martha reminded him that Percy had taken on the curse of Achilles and had to be left to the Fates and the Fates alone. So instead, he lost control in another manner and ended up making a fool of himself and crying in front of a couple of demigods. But all told, he did manage to deliver the message, which played an instrumental role in the war against Kronos. However, it did not save his son’s life.
It took Hermes a long while to fix things in mortal minds after the battle, all the while still delivering messages and now claiming every last one of his kids as well, so his time to visit his children was limited even more. It seemed like a flash that the two years passed in the same rushed monotony as they usually did. But then Phobos came into the picture and for the first time in a long time, Hermes set his work aside when it resulted in the sacrificing of one of his children. The loss of Riley Mitchell was hard on him, and watching his other children cope with it wasn’t easy either. And then there was the challenge of Luke returning. With his workload back to normal, that is to say, crushing, he was determined to set things right, not just with Luke, but with all his kids. That, and possibly rearrange Phobos’ face.
Name/Nickname:: Annabeth/AB
Roleplaying Experience:: 6+ years
Sample RP:: (previous post with Athena from when I played Hermes before here)
One wouldn’t think that when one could more or less poof anywhere they needed to go, and that when they got there, their shoes did most of the rest of the transportation work… that one could get so very tired. And one would probably think that an immortal couldn’t get tired too. But hey, pigs could fly, as they said… sort of. Which was just plain unpleasant, but that was beside the point. The point was, Hermes was worn out. Not so much physically as mentally. He’d been doing non-stop deliveries for longer than he cared to think about, and he seriously needed a break. Which was why he came to Olympus. Well, that and he had a delivery for someone here. Excuse for a break though.
Oh, how he wanted to do one of his patented crash landings (which, despite the unpleasant name, were entertaining every once in a while). But the fact remained that Olympus had a lot of stone paving. And Demeter hadn’t been too pleased the last time he tried the gardens; he didn’t feel like trying his luck with her patience today. So smooth landing it was. Hermes landed with hardly a sound, fluidly going from flying to walking, and headed for one of the small buildings. It took a good while longer, but it was nice to just walk every now and again. He dropped the package off at the Muses’ place (after pulling it out of George’s mouth to much taunting from Martha) and set off to find some somewhere to chill.
That was when a bird flying around a corner scared him half to Hades’ place. A big grin came to his face and the wings on his heels flared out again. Race time! He was about to get a running start, took about two steps when he crossed the end of the building and noticed that there was, in fact, someone sitting just a ways off on the other side. Tally one for looking-like-an-idiot today.
Hermes straightened up and walked over. “Hey, Athena. How have you been? Mind if I join you?” And, as usual, George and Marsha chimed in, a little muffled, from the cell phone in his pocket.
Hey! I wonder if she has a rat…
Hello Athena. George, why on earth would she have a rat?
She likes owls doesn’t she? They eat rats too. You never know.
And they, also as usual, dissolved into bickering.
